Kingwood swimmer Barber qualifies for U.S. National Junior team

STEPHEN WHITFIELDswhitfield@hcnonline.com

Published 7:00 pm, Monday, June 30, 2008

A twitch of the arm was all it took to end Matt Barber’s Olympic experience.

Barber, a swimmer for Kingwood High School and Blue Tide Aquatics, was disqualified from the 200-meter freestyle last night at the United States Olympic Team Trials because of a false start. He was allowed to complete in the race, but his time was not kept.

On Sunday, Barber finished 35th in the 400-meter freestyle at the Olympic trials, held at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. His time of 3 minutes, 57.38 seconds was not good enough qualify for the U.S. Olympic team, but it was fast enough to qualify him for the National Junior team next year.

Barber may have also qualified for the squad that will represent the U.S. at the World Youth Games next week in Monterrey, Mexico. A selection committee is meeting this afternoon to determine the roster, and although Barber will probably make the team, it is not a certainty.

Kevin Milak, head coach of Blue Tide Aquatics, said the final decision regarding the World Youth Games should come later this afternoon.

Seeded 27th in the 400 and 68th in the 200, Barber had little chance of qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team that will head to Beijing this August for the Summer Olympics. However, he had wanted to secure a spot on the National Junior team, and having put himself in position to do so, Milak said the race was a success.

“It was great, especially how he swam [the 400] under the circumstances,” Milak said. “Being a 16-year-old against four professionals and three proven college swimmers [in his heat], he went out and held his own.”

At age 16, Barber was among the youngest swimmers competing at the Olympic trials. He got to swim against some of the best swimmers in the world, including past Olympic medalists like Michael Phelps and Klete Keller. Barber said he was thrilled to go up against such strong competition.

“I got to swim in the second-to-last heat in the 400,” he said. “I got to race with some big names … and that was pretty exciting.”

Milak said that Barber’s performance at the Olympic trials helped establish him as an up-and-coming swimmer on the national scene.

“We went in with the objective of putting his name on the map,” Milak said. “He is just about the fastest high-school swimmer in the country.”

Without even setting foot in the pool, Barber’s trip was already eventful. His flight into Omaha Friday was delayed because of severe storms in the area. Strong winds ripped off chunks of the Qwest Center, and heavy rains flooded the area surrounding the pool.

The building was repaired enough to where competition went on as scheduled, but Barber’s warm-up Friday night was cancelled. He said he was surprised by the damage but that it ultimately did not bother him.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Barber said. “I wasn’t mad because I warmed up the next morning, so it wasn’t a big deal.”